Latest
news - June 2011
We're
playing a gig on 23 July 2011 from 1.00 - 4.00pm at
Oxford Botanic Garden, Rose Lane, Oxford - bring a picnic!
Forthcoming events
Thank
you to everyone who came to our first ever Kids' Ceilidh
on 10 June 2011. It was hugely successful and we raised over £400
for Donnington
Doorstep Family Centre.
In
May we had the honour of entertaining Councillors and guests of
the new Lord Mayor of Oxford, Elise Benjamin, in the Town
Hall.
The
previous weekend, we helped families at East Street Children's
Centre in Banbury to celebrate the opening of their new gardens.
We told stories as well as playing music, and for the first (and
hopefully last) time ever, were upstaged by a roaming Shetland
pony!
See
you soon!
Who
are Kismet?
Kismet
features the creative talents of Melissa Holding,
Katherine Lucas and Jackie
Singer, each of them a singer, instrumentalist, composer and
arranger.
Along
with three beautifully matched voices, they play between them
clarinet, whistles, fiddle, mandola, accordion, percussion, shamisen
(Japanese banjo) and koto (Japanese harp). With such a rich palette
of sounds, textures and dynamics at their disposal, Kismet can
take you from a wild Romanian dance to a haunting Celtic lullaby,
via a French cafe or a Japanese monastery.
"Kismet
transport us to a wonderland of music and fun - we want to dance
and sing with those traveling gypsies!"
History
Since
forming in 2001 Kismet have played concerts in town halls, churches,
abbeys, sheds and cafés, arboretums and botanic gardens
in and around Oxfordshire and contributed their music to festivals,
community events, celebrations, wakes, weddings, and fashions
shows.
They
have also collaborated with storytellers, poets and dancers and
provided music for theatre pieces.
In
2005 Kismet were commissioned by the University of Oxford Botanic
Gardens to create and perform new work for five festivals with
themes relating to plants and people, as part of an Arts Council
funded residency. Some of this material is available on their
CD Growing.

"Kismet
are a fantastically diverse and talented group. They have the
ability to engage an audience of any age, as well as a knack of
encouraging even the most inexperienced or self-conscious to join
in, have a go and enjoy themselves! Their performances are always
thoughtfully researched and beautifully delivered."
Emma
Williams, Education Officer University of Oxford Botanic Garden
In
2009 Kismet were commissioned by the Kingsley family to make a
CD of circle dance tunes in memory of Devora Kingsley, who was
a circle dance teacher and choreographer. The
Dance Goes On is the resulting CD, which features 11 dance
tunes from Eastern Europe in original arrangements, plus Kismet's
own tribute.